Prof. Farhad Mehta and Eliane Schmidli, an MSE Computer Science student at OST, presented the results of her Master's Thesis at the ACM SIGPLAN International Workshop on Functional Art, Music, Modelling, and Design (FARM) on September 2, 2024, in Milan, Italy. The workshop was part of the 29th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Functional Programming (ICFP, https://icfp24.sigplan.org/), a top-tier conference in the area of Programming Languages.
This work explores how Functional Reactive Programming (FRP) can simplify the creation of robotic artwork. FRP is a programming paradigm used to implement reactive systems, such as robotic art, through functional programming principles. Functional programming (FP) leverages pure mathematical functions to express program behavior, prioritizing elegance, algebraic compositionality, and mathematical precision. Traditionally, programming robots requires extensive technical knowledge, posing challenges for artists. However, FRP provides a more flexible and modular way to control robots, enabling artists to create more complex and nuanced behaviors. This approach was used to develop responsive and lifelike behaviors for a robotic artwork by the artist duo Pors & Rao.
The accompanying paper, “Using Functional Reactive Programming for Robotic Art,” is freely available at https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677996.3678288. A video of the presentation can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBmPEIvQBUI&list=PLyrlk8Xaylp72muMXWqC4zmzkhQvz2cRl&index=11.
For further inquiries, please contact Prof. Farhad Mehta.